Choosing a Color Scheme for Your Kitchen

When considering the color scheme for your kitchen, many people think about some of the traditional palettes. If this is the way you decide to go, you will want to accent these palettes with more colorful, contemporary colors in the lighting, stool or chair fabrics and window treatments. These are easily replaced when you tire of them, or fashion changes.

One of the new color trends in cabinets is gray. Cabinets may be a painted soft shade of gray or more in the field of battleship gray. There are also light and dark shades of gray stains on maple cherry or even oak, which add more texture to your kitchen space. Grays may be used in the island, with white cabinets on the perimeter, or light gray can be used on the perimeter with darker shades on the island. Keep in mind that with white, color contrasts can be much stronger. For example, black on white can be very overpowering. Grays can help tone down complimentary colors that may ordinarily be overpowering and give a calming, cooling effect to a kitchen. Keep in mind, there are so many shades of gray that you will need to choose your other colors carefully. Gray is best used as a complement, and if it’s your primary color, be sure to add visual interest with white, off-whites or other colors.

It’s also important to consider countertops in your color scheme. If you’re going with lighter cabinets, darker countertops can add attractive contrast. However, both cabinets and countertops being lighter colors can work. If you decide on a darker tone for cabinets, lighter tones in the countertops are preferable. You don’t really want dark cabinets and dark countertops as it will just make the kitchen space too dark. Keep in mind that painting cabinets and replacing countertops is always an option to change up color schemes but it’s best to find the best combination during design.

Check with your kitchen designer for what is available, and discover the many different ways to use color in the kitchen.